Hong Kong Weathers Hail as Year’s Worst Rainstorm Hits City

New Zealand All Blacks perform a Maori Haka dance in torrential rain after defeating England during day three of the 2014 Hong Kong Sevens at Hong Kong Stadium in Hong Kong on March 30, 2014. Photographer: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

The Hong Kong Observatory declared the black rainstorm
signal yesterday evening as wind speeds reached 100 kilometers
(62 miles) an hour. Hail was sighted in several areas, it said
on its Twitter account. While the storm has subsided, residents
should stay alert to the danger of flooding, it said at 12:02
p.m. today.

The hail broke part of the glass facade at Mapletree
Greater China Commercial Trust’s Festival Walk mall in the
Kowloon Tong area, with rain flooding the building. Two people
were injured, including a truck driver hurt when a row of 20
cargo containers toppled, the South China Morning Post reported,
citing the Hospital Authority.

“More than 40 millimeters of rainfall were recorded over
widespread areas,” the observatory said after dropping the
rainstorm warning signal. The weather will remain “unsettled in
the next couple of days,” it said.

The storm came as revelers gathered in the city for the
Hong Kong Sevens weekend. The winners of the three-day rugby
tournament, the New Zealand All Blacks, performed a Maori Haka
dance in the pouring rain after defeating England 26 to 7 at
Hong Kong Stadium last night.

A total of 245 flights were disrupted by the rain today,
with 200 delayed and the rest canceled or diverted, the Airport
Authority Hong Kong said.

Mapletree “is in the process of assessing the damage
caused as well as making the necessary insurance claim,” the
company said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange
today.

Local newspapers, including the Mingpao, carried on their
front pages photographs of water sheets pouring inside the mall
and shoppers standing with umbrellas to stay dry.

Hail has been reported in Hong Kong 39 days since 1967, the
Hong Kong Observatory said in a March 4 report.